Palestinians Government Officials

Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat accepted resignations from most of his Cabinet--nearly a year after they were submitted amid allegations of corruption. Palestinian legislators had threatened Arafat with a no-confidence vote if he didn't accept the resignations and present a new Cabinet. Legislators agreed to give Arafat two weeks to shuffle the Cabinet, Palestinian Minister of Local Government Saeb Erekat said.

Hanan Mikhail-Ashrawi resigned from the Palestinian self-rule government, criticizing Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat over corruption and the handling of peace talks with Israel. Another Cabinet minister, Abdel Jawad Saleh, also resigned. Ashrawi, the minister of higher education, said she declined the new post of tourism minister in Arafat's newly reshuffled Cabinet because "comprehensive reform was not addressed in this new government formulation."

Hanan Mikhail-Ashrawi resigned from the Palestinian self-rule government, criticizing Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat over corruption and the handling of peace talks with Israel. Another Cabinet minister, Abdel Jawad Saleh, also resigned. Ashrawi, the minister of higher education, said she declined the new post of tourism minister in Arafat's newly reshuffled Cabinet because "comprehensive reform was not addressed in this new government formulation."

Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat accepted resignations from most of his Cabinet--nearly a year after they were submitted amid allegations of corruption. Palestinian legislators had threatened Arafat with a no-confidence vote if he didn't accept the resignations and present a new Cabinet. Legislators agreed to give Arafat two weeks to shuffle the Cabinet, Palestinian Minister of Local Government Saeb Erekat said.

The document was written decades ago, but Israelis today still view the Palestine Liberation Organization's national covenant as a rifle trained between their eyes, and they want it eliminated. To that end, the Israeli government has agreed to let 154 members of the PLO's parliament-in-exile enter the Palestinian self-rule area, a government official said Tuesday. Israel hopes that they will vote to remove clauses in the charter that call for the destruction of the Jewish state.

This sprawling maze of concrete and corrugated tin, the largest refugee camp in the West Bank and vanguard of Palestinian armed resistance to Israeli military rule, boasts a new honor: Balata, despised home of the disenfranchised, has produced three members of the newly elected Palestinian self-governing council.

At Bethlehem University's student union office, youth leaders from Yasser Arafat's mainstream Fatah organization spray-painted sheets to look like Israeli and American flags, then set off with hundreds of angry protesters to burn the banners at an Israeli checkpoint and hurl rocks at soldiers. The Israelis fired back with tear gas and concussion grenades until, as the tension began to crest, Palestinian security chief Jibril Rajoub ordered his agents to pull the demonstrators back.

Israeli police have arrested a member of the Palestinian legislative council from the West Bank city of Hebron who was driving a Mercedes allegedly stolen in Israel. A Palestinian general's chauffeur was also caught with a stolen BMW, officials said. The growing problem of Israeli cars being stolen and taken to Palestinian areas has become a major embarrassment for Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority.

Grapefruit in stores throughout Italy was ordered seized after the discovery that some of the fruit had been injected with a deadly poison, possibly as a protest against Israel's policy toward Palestinians. Government officials said tainted grapefruit, possibly imported from Israel, was discovered in a supermarket near Rome last week and that the poison, which has not been identified, was so deadly it killed laboratory guinea pigs instantly.

TELEVISION CNN Envoy Smoothing Ruffled Feathers Eason Jordan, CNN's president of news gathering, arrived in Israel on Friday on a peace mission of sorts--a response to criticism of the network's Middle East coverage and calls to have the network taken off that country's airwaves. Jordan visited the sites of the last two terrorist bombings and planned to meet with academic leaders, Israeli journalists, terror victims, Palestinians and government officials.

Israeli police have arrested a member of the Palestinian legislative council from the West Bank city of Hebron who was driving a Mercedes allegedly stolen in Israel. A Palestinian general's chauffeur was also caught with a stolen BMW, officials said. The growing problem of Israeli cars being stolen and taken to Palestinian areas has become a major embarrassment for Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority.

At Bethlehem University's student union office, youth leaders from Yasser Arafat's mainstream Fatah organization spray-painted sheets to look like Israeli and American flags, then set off with hundreds of angry protesters to burn the banners at an Israeli checkpoint and hurl rocks at soldiers. The Israelis fired back with tear gas and concussion grenades until, as the tension began to crest, Palestinian security chief Jibril Rajoub ordered his agents to pull the demonstrators back.

The document was written decades ago, but Israelis today still view the Palestine Liberation Organization's national covenant as a rifle trained between their eyes, and they want it eliminated. To that end, the Israeli government has agreed to let 154 members of the PLO's parliament-in-exile enter the Palestinian self-rule area, a government official said Tuesday. Israel hopes that they will vote to remove clauses in the charter that call for the destruction of the Jewish state.

This sprawling maze of concrete and corrugated tin, the largest refugee camp in the West Bank and vanguard of Palestinian armed resistance to Israeli military rule, boasts a new honor: Balata, despised home of the disenfranchised, has produced three members of the newly elected Palestinian self-governing council.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday sought to downplay expectations as she began several days of shuttle diplomacy designed to nudge the Palestinians and Israelis closer to the bargaining table in advance of a U.S. peace conference. Rice met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, and planned to meet today with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "I don't expect . . .